Happy Lunar New Year! 

First of all - thank you for your writing tips. They were really helpful and I am beyond grateful.  

It's been so long that I can only vaguely remember the plot and the characterization so do let me know if you found a blindspot, or if this chapter lacked continuity (so I can change it before anyone else notices! :P) 

Chapter 25

Tiffany catches Jessica staring intently at a framed poster of Girls’ Generation outside the meeting room, fingers mapping out spaces between the members – places where she could have stood, or rather, should have stood.

It was their last group picture and Tiffany remembers the details of that photoshoot vividly. The unprofessionalism on that particular day had been unprecedented in the past – the members just couldn’t smile right.  Not authentic enough, not bright enough, too awkward, too intense… Tiffany had not been aware that there were so many wrong ways to smile. The whole concept of the shoot had to be revised within hours, moving away from sweet to seductive, where the members could brood and pass as alluring, instead of smile and come across fake.

“Jessica, look here!”

Tiffany is brought back into the moment with the rapid snapping of fingers. Jessica turns, looking as dazed as she probably did, and their eyes move instinctively, albeit slowly, towards the source of the sound.

“I like this one better.” Taeyeon asserts, standing across from Jessica, pointing at the promotional poster for their last mini-album, Mr. Mr.

“Really? You look so much shorter in a suit.” Jessica retorts, tilting her head to a side, pretending to have trouble finding the appeal in the older poster, but with a smile plastered on her lips, giving her true sentiments away. She walks towards Taeyeon and pulls her into a hug.

“You’re all grown up now.” Jessica says, voice laced with pride, embracing Taeyeon tighter.  

Taeyeon looks slightly taken aback, mouth on the verge of forming words, pausing her breath. She doesn’t say anything, merely exhales deeply, and rests her forehead on Jessica’s shoulder, hiding herself from Tiffany’s view.

They don’t notice Tiffany’s presence at the end of the hallway, clutching her pink folders tightly against her chest, half-shielded by an old piano that was temporarily and wrongly placed, often causing unsuspected newbies to bump into it while turning a corner.

As expected, the members were all called to a meeting the next morning after their daring feat at Sunny’s radio show. Waking the girls up was a challenge on its own - Tiffany and Seohyun had to circle the rooms four times (skipping Taeyeon’s twice), with each attempt to get the girls out of bed more violent than the last, though Seohyun simply watched and politely offered painkillers for hangovers.

“Love you, maknae!” Yuri exclaimed after receiving a cup of coffee from Seohyun, and later stuck her tongue out towards Tiffany.

“Why am I always the bad guy?” Tiffany complained, after getting slapped on the arm by Hyoyeon.

“Because you are forgiven most easily.” Taeyeon whispered in passing and turned to flash a cheeky wink.  

Watching Taeyeon and Jessica, Tiffany feels an apology hang heavily in , slipping along her airways, weighing her down all the way to her feet. She imagines how Jessica must have felt seeing Girls’ Generation move on without her – witnessing the choreography altered to fill her space and her vocal parts replaced by the voices of her best friends -  and  understands how Taeyeon broke from shouldering the blame for both Jessica’s departure and the disbandment of the group.

I’ll make it up to you both, Tiffany mentally commits while taking a few steps back, not wanting to intrude on their moment. 

“I’m jealous.” A familiar voice causes her to pause mid-step and spin around swiftly, almost dropping her files from the sudden movement. 

Tyler Kwon pushes himself off the wall of the adjacent hallway and folds him arms, smirking, as usual. He arches his neck to peek at the scene behind Tiffany and shakes his head in feigned disappointment.

“Of whom?” Tiffany asks.

“What?” Tyler is caught off-guard, his posture stiff.

“Who are you jealous of?” Tiffany clarifies, suddenly unsure of the answer.

Tyler merely chuckles and takes a few deliberate steps towards Tiffany.

“Of you.” he confesses in a whisper, which brings about a restless unease. He takes his time, prolonging her agitation, before leaning away.    

“You have both Taeyeon and Jessica fighting for the things you want.” he explains, sounding jealous like he claims.

“What do you mean?”

He glances towards Taeyeon and Jessica and strides further down the hallway, gesturing Tiffany to follow. After securing a safe distance, he turns towards Tiffany, looking less composed, almost as though he had forgotten his point. If he had a sales pitch, he wasn’t off to a great start.

“Take the solo record deal and move back to LA.” He finally says, appearing to have summoned his conviction from thin air, sounding surprisingly forceful.

“You’re insane.” Tiffany responds promptly, snickering at the absurdity of the sudden request.

“Look,” he sighs, seeming exhausted already. “The company is not evil. There was no way Jessica could be in Girls’ Generation while being CEO then and nothing has changed now. If anything, all your individual activities have made it damn near impossible for a reunion. The company offered all of you solo contracts because it would be easier for all of you to manage your schedules without having to coordinate everything with each other. It’s not about profit – it’s about practicality.”

“Was that what you told Taeyeon two years ago?” she asks, voice simmering with anger. Tyler senses it, and his gaze hardens.

“I was thinking about Jessica’s future. It was tough, but it all turned out well – eventually everyone got what they wanted. Taeyeon was happy as a solo artist, but she’s now she’s choosing to put it all on the line just so her best friend would stay in Seoul. And Jessica- she’s having a hell of a hard time fending off the vultures who are vying for your position. You can’t manage an LA magazine from Korea indefinitely. It’s not --”

“—practical.” Tiffany finishes his sentence, wondering if it meant he had won.

“You shouldn’t gamble everything you have for something you had.” Tyler says, in a gentler tone, sounding almost sympathetic.

“Please stop talking.” Tiffany begs, her voice cracking.

“Please listen to me.” he pleads.

“Why should I?” she asks, defiantly.

He looks to the ground, as if he had dropped his confidence, and Tiffany feels sorry for him, unsure as to why.

“Because both Jessica and Taeyeon wouldn’t -- and I’m fighting for them.”

__________________________________________________________________________________

The meeting room contains minimal furniture, with four long tables arranged to form a square and chairs surrounding them, a solidary plant that is rarely watered at one corner of the room, a few paintings that consists of a maximum of three colours, and maroon carpeted floors. The members are sat along one row, seeming to form an intimidating defence line. The girls are as confident as ever, so utterly convinced that they had backed the company into a corner – that after losing many battles, the war was finally won.

Tiffany slumps against her seat, feeling like the only person who had lost.

“Are you okay?” Sooyoung asks, sensing that something was amiss.

“Yes.” she lies. “Waking all of you up had just drained me completely.” Tiffany jokes, and feels slightly better, even after getting smacked on the head for reminding Hyoyeon of the ordeal. She gathers whatever strength she has left, walks over to the end of the table, and crouches next to Taeyeon’s chair.

“Would you like to switch places?” Jessica offers and Tiffany shakes her head in response. Jessica then shrugs and continues showing Yoona the designs that she will be modelling for their company.

“What’s up?” Taeyeon takes Tiffany’s hand and pulls her closer. One more tug and Tiffany would have collapsed into her arms, a wreck.

Thankfully, the door opens -- but instead of board members and lawyers greeting them, their manager walks in.

“Hi.” he starts awkwardly, looking as if he had walked into the wrong room.

“Where’s everyone?” Sunny asks and stands up, tiptoeing, trying to peep behind him.

Their manager places the stack of files on the table and follows Sunny’s gaze, turning to look behind him. He scratches the back of his head and frowns.

“Who are you expecting?” he asks, sounding more confused than ever.

“More people.” Sunny replies, disappointed.

“Because of that stunt you pulled at your radio show?” he asks in a light tone, indicating that they were in little or no trouble at all. The girls nod, hesitantly, mirroring his initial confusion.

“I’m afraid today’s meeting will be far less interesting than you expected.” he smiles, with a reserved posture, pulls a chair for Tiffany, and passes each of the girls a file each. “Or as fun.” he adds. Tiffany sits down mechanically, eyes never leaving the folder in front of her, feeling extremely anxious. She could hear the sound of pages being turned, quiet murmurs that she can’t decipher, the tapping of a pen, the slight squeaking of the fan above, her own heartbeat…

“First of all, congratulations on all the exciting things you have lined up this year.” he says, with wavering enthusiasm. “Unfortunately, there are some serious scheduling conflicts and no way around it - as you can see in the master calendar I compiled.” He takes a seat, and relaxes, as if he had just been relieved of an impossible conundrum. “The board thinks that you should decide on the dates of your album releases and promotional activities yourselves. If not, it might seem that the company is picking on certain members.” he states and chuckles nervously, but immediately clears his throat when he notices Jessica’s expression.

Tiffany waits patiently, hopeful for a solution – for one of the members to reconcile their scheduling conflicts in a way that would put the managing team to shame. She looks to Taeyeon, whose eyes search hers, equally lost, then Jessica, followed by Seohyun, Sooyoung, Hyoyeon…

One by one, she sees their determination fade to resignation – pages are flipped back and forth, pausing and resuming, like a car that refuses to start.

“It’s not practical.” she thinks aloud, wondering how all the members had simultaneously failed to see this coming. She senses all eyes on her but chooses to meet their manager’s gaze instead, feeling an unspoken understanding creep upon her. All of a sudden, she had forgotten about all she was fighting for, or against. A weight had been lifted from her chest and what remained was emptiness.

“Give us some time. We’ll come up with the dates as soon as possible.” Taeyeon says, in an assuring tone, once again successful in concealing her fears.

“Take all the time you need.” their manager says as he gets up to leave. “Just remember -- we’re on the same team.” he tells them before promptly exiting the room.

The silence immediately fills with fervent, muted discussions. The initial confidence is lost - their united certainty dissolving into chaotic doubt.

“It’s not practical?” Taeyeon repeats faintly, as if those were words of pure betrayal. Tiffany wonders how many times Taeyeon had heard the same phrase – and if they had all hurt as badly as it did now.

“It’s not.” Tiffany confirms, adding pressure to the wound, her optimism fully depleted. She feels the damage just as deeply, and all she wants is Taeyeon to tell her she’s wrong.

Taeyeon doesn’t.

Instead, she backs her chair away from Tiffany, creating distance between them.

***

I hope you liked it! 

ps: This is getting more and more difficult to write because of the implausibility of the situation. I've been rereading the comments and I'm very sorry if this story has ever made you disappointed in reality - as fiction often does.  I've been thinking about practicality and been talking about practicality and it feels strangely adult (not in a way that sits well). Hence I wrote this to make sense of it.